The Adventures of Chucky and Nanà is a training program designed to support children in their final year of kindergarten in developing their executive functions.

The children are invited to participate in an adventure: two little elves, Chicco and Nanà, need their help to become better at self-regulation and, in doing so, be ready to attend Magic School the following year. To become more capable of self-regulating, Chicco and Nanà, with the children’s help, must overcome ten challenges in order to reclaim the Magical Potion of Attention.

Each challenge (training session) includes a new game that exercises executive functions. The children are not only asked to play but also to manage the game by taking on the roles of Elf Directors and Referees. Each session includes an initial routine and a final metacognitive session. The adult supports the children in running the game, assisting them in organizing the cooperative activity and, most importantly, in building their sense of self-efficacy.

The training has proven effective in promoting executive functions (Traverso et al., 2015; Traverso et al., 2019) and is available for free download (see below) in Italian and English versions.